However, Taylor's argument is flawed both as a whole and in several of its parts. He resists making clear definitions, he is very negative about science and technology, his historical perspective is distorted, and his writing is problematic.

Resistance to clear definitions is a serious problem. From the start, Taylor speaks of poetic knowledge both as a "degree" of knowledge and as a "mode" of knowledge. By confusing these definitions (and others) Taylor undercuts his central argument with equivocation. As a "degree of knowledge," poetic knowledge is immediate to the knowing person, and may be likened to the lowest rungs of a ladder, the first rungs we climb and the ones we use to climb higher. Understood as a degree of knowledge, poetic knowledge makes a constant contribution to all other forms of knowledge, including scientific knowledge.

As a "mode of knowledge", the poetic is the spontaneous knowledge of an interior view, rather than the measured and outward knowledge of rationality. The poetic as a "mode" of knowledge is the opposite of the "scientific mode". Of course, just as one would be impoverished by looking only east and never west, one would be impoverished if one were to employ only one of two possible modes of knowledge. But they remain opposites.

There are good philosophical reasons and good historical precedents (many of which Taylor produces) for either definition of the term "poetic knowledge," – and even for using both definitions in various ways. But the definitions cannot be interchanged during an argument, and this is what takes place in Taylor's essay. Simply put, his argument is that poetic knowledge (definition 1) is a form of knowledge essential to humanity. But poetic knowledge (definition 2) is the opposite – and the antagonist – of scientific knowledge. By equivocation, poetic knowledge is essential to all knowledge and a powerful human good in opposition to science.

While Taylor does not actually call science an evil, he spares no opportunity to disparage both science and technology. This negativity about science would be comic if it were not encased in an erudite argument for the poetic approach to knowledge in education. Unfortunately, the intuitive and poetic approaches to knowledge are naturally open to romanticism and gnosticism unless they are properly balanced with rationality. Taylor has no balance in this matter. His negativity about rationality overflows even onto sentence diagramming and phonics. He quotes with approval the assertion that "authors teach children to read," and that reading is "imitative". If he merely pointed out that phonics is not enough; you need to have authors that children will enjoy, I would agree. But to scorn phonics? The depth of Taylor's impracticality is simply breathtaking.

A note on history is also in order, for Taylor makes repeated reference to the time of the Reformation and Renaissance, before which the poetic was accepted in Western thought. The correct association for the negative attitude towards intuitive knowledge is the seventeenth century, starting with Descartes, 1596-1650. This is the "Enlightenment" or the "Age of Reason", two names for the time that followed the Renaissance and the Reformation. (Taylor does refer to Descartes as the culprit, but never clarifies his place in history.)

First of all, the Renaissance long preceded the Reformation. It was not a single event, of course, but the starting date sometimes given is 1250, sometimes earlier. Certainly the architectural triumphs of the cathedrals belong to the Renaissance, as do, for example, Dante (1265-1321), Buridan (1300's), Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), and Copernicus (1473-1543). The early Renaissance is the time of the birth of modern science. It predates by hundreds of years the problem that Taylor speaks of. This fact alone should make clear that the rise of science is not the culprit in the loss of respect for poetic knowledge. Something else happened. This is not the place to say what, but only to urge in the strongest terms that no implication against science be received from Taylor's references to the Renaissance.

It may be that Taylor has confused the Renaissance with the Enlightenment. This would explain why he constantly pairs Reformation and Renaissance in the opposite of their historical order, which was Renaissance first, and then later on, the Reformation.

Finally, though it may seem trivial to close on a grammatical note, I shall complain about Taylor's sentence structure. The topic is difficult enough without the distraction of errors of grammar and construction which appear throughout his book. Usually, when a reader is confused about the structure of a sentence, it is his clue that he has not properly followed the author's argument. But in Taylor, it is just a reminder that this author regards analysis as an inferior mode of thought, and wants his argument accepted intuitively.

Because I love science and feed my wonder on the delights of a well-crafted physical argument as much as on violets and poetry, and because I strongly desire that science and faith be understood harmoniously, I cannot recommend this book as a resource for the classical revival in education.

This is a wonderful, very readable, book on history and apologetics that takes readers (chronologically) through 30 myths about the papacy and provides very clear answers. The myths cover topics such as: that Peter wasn't really a pope (because he refered to himself as a "fellow presbyter", that the Rock referred to in Matthew 16:10 was not really Peter, that Peter wasn't the ultimate authority in the Church because he was rebuked by St. Paul, that the papacy is merely a medieval Roman invention, that the existence of bad popes disqualifies the papacy as being part of Christ's plan for His Church, that Pope Pius XII was the last validly elected pope (the sedevacantist argument) and that Pope Pius XII was silent in the face of Nazi atrocities against the Jews during World War II.

In the tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica, Patrick Madrid argues against some fairly compelling beliefs of "the other side" in order to help readers more fully understand Catholic doctrine and tradition, as well as be prepared to answer difficult questions posed by non-Catholics and confused Catholics.

Anecdotes and well-chosen quotes really help to illustrate the fallacies of the arguments and make the counter-arguments quite memorable. These responses include quite a bit of pertinent historical details, references to the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church and lots of apologetics "ammunition" for conversations with those who stand against the Pope and the Catholic Church.

Suitable for high school and adult reading.

Also known as Power Glide Spanish Junior Adventure Course

This creative multi-sensory language course for children (designed for preschool through 4th grade) provides an intuitive beginning in Spanish to children through the use of puzzles, games, stories and music. One major plotline involving two children and their grandfather carries through the entire set including adventures on Isla de Providencia and the Yucatan Peninsula as well as side stories and Spanish lessons woven in along the way. Many of the English stories contain Spanish words here and there so children can encounter them and gain familiarity. The three parts to the children's text gradually increase in difficulty level. Families could use one book each year for grades one through three or proceed more quickly if the children start when they are a little older.

The first workbook (143 pages) is basically a simple picture book that children can look at while listening to the first four CDs. It is designed especially for preschool through 1st grade but could be used by children as old as 4th grade who are just getting started in Spanish. Children are instructed to point to the pictures as they recognize the Spanish words as well as filling in blanks and drawing and coloring pictures. The text is in a very readable large print. Children will learn familiar phrases, and sentence structure as well as a small working vocabulary. There is more of an emphasis in learning to use Spanish words properly and understanding Spanish when hearing it than on building an extensive vocabulary at this early stage. My young children have frequently asked to pull out the books and CDs because they think it's fun!

The Level II workbook (92 pages) begins a new segment of the story where the two children are trying to find their grandfather and help solve a mystery. To do this they must learn some Spanish words and work their way through a number of stories. This text contains most of the script of the audio plus pictures, vocabulary with pictures and puzzles to complement the audio CDs. The audio text uses a number of songs and ditties to help practice some basics of Spanish conversation and vocabulary. This text strikes me as quite a bit more challenging the first volume, but young children could still learn a great deal from just listening and using the pictures in this text, even if they aren't ready to read along with so much of the script. It is intended for 2nd through 4th grade. One really nice thing about this text is that the corresponding audio tracks to each piece of text are clearly marked.

The Level III workbook (109 pages) is also intended for the 2nd through 4th grades. It continues in a similar format to Level II. Now, in the main story, the children have found their grandfather and proved their worth in helping them find the hidden treasure stolen by the pirate Don Diego de Consuelo.

The 174 page Parent's Guide covers all three children's books. It includes the entire script of the audio CDs and miniature copies of the textbook pages as well as instructions for getting the most out of the texts and some recipes to complement your family's Spanish studies.

I have found this to be a nice place to begin learning Spanish before getting to a more formal early study of vocabulary and grammar in a text like Learning Spanish with Grace (reviewed below).